Pike Perch Farming in Mühlviertel: Potential in an Interesting Market

As restructuring professionals, we enable medium-sized companies to seize opportunities in times of crisis. The foundation for this is provided by analyzing the respective markets and potentials. This is particularly multifaceted in the food sector: Before our entry into a Mühlviertel pike perch farming specialist, we carefully examined the environment – and recognized the potential!

Our considerations: The Austrian consumer market for fish has an annual demand of 75,000 tons – only 7% of which comes from domestic production. The pike perch share is around 300 tons of fillet per year (equivalent to about 750 tons of whole pike perch). The vast majority, namely 240 tons, are imported processed and frozen. The remaining 20% (60 tons) are fresh goods, mainly from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, with fish coming from aquaculture and inland fisheries.

While pike perch farms are still rare and impress with their environmental balance through closed-loop systems, environmental organizations are reporting resource overload from inland fisheries. The availability of fresh goods is also limited by fishing periods – during the intermediate season, thawed goods are increasingly offered.

With a production volume of around 100 tons/year, the Mühlviertel pike perch farm "Böhmerwald Fisch" therefore has high potential in an interesting market:

• year-round constant supply to upscale gastronomy and consumers
• environmentally friendly production, selected suppliers, and modern breeding facilities
• highest fresh catch quality
• local operation, short delivery routes